Customer Reviews

The March of Unreason: Science, Democracy, and the New Fundamentalism

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This is a marvelous book that traces the role of reason and science in the creation of free and democratic societies, and then warns that radical environmentalism (what he calls "eco-fundamentalism"), by standing in opposition to reason and science, poses a grave threat to our freedoms. The author covers a wide range of topics but is especially good on biotechnology (genetically modified crops), where he carefully presents the cases for and against this new application of science ... and concludes that the former is much the stronger. The book is a delight to read, with the author sparing us the sometimes tedious analyzing and arguing that other books devoted to debunking environmentalism fall victim to. I highly recommend it.

Here is a well-researched and well-presented book defending science and rational thinking from the recent trend of society to lose its trust in science and embrace irrational, fear-based, feelings-based ideas.

Taverne takes aim at eco-fundamentalism, anti-globalisation organisations, environmentalist lobby groups, alternative medicine and other pseudo-scientific approaches. But he doesn't just do this in an ideological way; he presents studies, research and verifiable data to support his point.

Ironically, his opponents often don't. He presents the case that some of these approaches aren't based on scientific principles. For instance, he quotes Lord Melchett, the Director of Greenpeace, admitting that he would be permanently opposed to genetically modified crops, regardless of the scientific facts!

If you're already ideologically closed to Taverne's arguments, it's unlikely you will change your view by reading this book. However, if you read it with even a slightly open mind that encourages you to do your own investigation into the facts behind the claims, it will have served its purpose.

This book should be required reading for all politicians, bureaucrats, retailers, the mass media and others in leadership positions who fail to call for scientific support for their policies.

Dick Taverne has worked in industry, law and government and is now a Liberal-Democrat member of the House of Lords. In this useful book, he looks at the connections between science and democracy and at fundamentalism's threats to them both.

His theme is, "If you abandon any concern for evidence or pretence at reason, you open the door wide to more dangerous charlatans, the peddlers of racial hatred, or those other devotees of the irrational, the religious fundamentalists who seek a return to the days when religious dogmatism ruled and freedom of thought was suppressed."

In his chapter on medicine, he praises osteopathy for being properly regulated in Britain, unlike most other kinds of alternative medicine. He notes that some alternative practices, like aromatherapy and Indian head massage, are pleasant and harmless.

But Taverne condemns Ayurvedic medicine and homoeopathy for diverting patients away from good medical practice. He points out that anyone with cataracts who chose the Ayurvedic remedy - `brush your teeth and scrape your tongue, spit into a cup of water and wash your eyes with this mixture' - would not get better. Similarly, homoeopathy, based on the `law of infinitesimals' - the more a medicine is diluted, the more effective it will be, i.e. less is more - would not help anyone with a serious illness.

He notes that herbal products are unregulated (unlike pharmaceutical drugs), so users risk adverse effects. Tests on the most popular herbal products, arnica and echinacea, proved that they don't work and are no better than placebos.

Taverne then looks at the scare about the MMR vaccine, started by Dr Andrew Wakefield's speculations that autism might be due to bowel disease, which might in turn be due to the vaccine. Wakefield produced no evidence, instead calling a press conference to denounce the vaccine. The media danced to Wakefield's dramatic tune and ignored all the proof that the vaccine did not cause autism.

In a section on genetic modification, Taverne makes a good case for the safety and utility of GM foods. Even America's finest lawyers cannot find evidence of damage to health, and absence of evidence of harm is evidence of absence of harm.

On global warming, he again warns against media hype. He points out that all the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's global warming predictions depend on its unbelievably high forecasts of economic growth in the Third World.

In Taverne's last chapter he writes, "politicians do in fact compromise, listen to the other side, and are willing to modify their own position in the light of public discussion and public reaction." We know that members of the House of Lords can be a little divorced from reality, but did Lord Taverne not notice Thatcher or Blair?

As he notes, "Authoritarian institutions ... press on with mistakes long after they have begun to produce unintended and harmful consequences." Mistakes like privatising our National Health Service, devolution, EU membership, occupying Iraq, deindustrialisation, destroying the apprenticeship system? Perhaps he should check his own assumptions against the evidence.